Fabulous Girl's Boudoir

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Get a new job

Dahlia Lithwick takes on pharmacists who are refusing to dispense birth-control pills and emergency contraception, the four states with "refusal clauses" allowing them to do so (SD, GA, AR & MS), and the 12 with pending legislation. Choice quotes follow:

That means 11 state legislatures can't see any distinction between abortion and contraception; between what a physician does and what a pharmacist does; or between performing a complex medical procedure and scooping a pill out of a bin. (...) whatever you may think of the morality of taking a morning-after pill, the incontrovertible fact is that it loses efficacy after 24 hours and becomes virtually useless after 72. So, one pharmacist's refusal to dispense them can rapidly morph into an unwanted pregnancy. That means—particularly in isolated or rural communities—the religious objections of the pharmacist can trump the mother's legal rights. This may well lead to an increased number of later-term abortions. (...) for a pharmacist to subordinate a physician's judgment to his own is the height of arrogance. (...) a pharmacist's refusal to dispense a drug (could be compared to) a bookstore owner's legitimate refusal to sell a book. Of course, the worst thing that can happen if I can't get a book within 24 hours is that I only pretend to have read it at the cocktail party. Whereas an unwanted pregnancy represents a fairly profound violation of self.

You think? If you're motivated and intelligent enough to become a pharmacist, and you've suddenly realized you're God, get a new job. And don't move to Illinois, where the governor has "ordered pharmacies to fill prescriptions for women wanting the new "morning after" pill, even if it meant putting aside their employees' personal views." (NYT)
(For more information on refusal clauses nation-wide, visit Planned Parenthood.)

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